Endangered Wolf Center - Eureka, MO

The Endangered Wolf Center was founded in 1971 by Dr. Marlin Perkins (world reknown zoologist and host of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom - for all you young'ns). He saw the lack of wolves in the wild and established the EWC, which is now the cornerstone of wolf conservation and reintroduction to the wild. The 63 acre sanctuary is located on 2000 acres of land owned by Washington University's Tyson Research Center, land which has remained untouched for almost 50 years. It's an absolutely beautiful place and is completely isolated from the outside world, making it the perfect place for these wild animals to stay wild.

The center was humbly established in old World War II bunkers and portables and has remained so to the present day. With no government funding, Endangered Wolf Center relies solely on private funding and community support. The animals are owned by US Fish and Wildlife Services but they receive no financial support from the agency, only direction on how the animals be maintained (much like how other rehabilitation centers are run).

The center's main concern is the population of Mexican Grey wolves (Canis lupus baileyi), which in 1977 there were only seven genetically viable wolves alive in the wild. These wolves were captured and became the founders of the breeding/rehabiliation program and in 1998, 11 wolves were reintroduced back into the wild. Today there are still only 75-80 Mexican greys in the wild but they can all trace their roots back to the EWC. Impressive!!

The EWC has five canid species in their care at this time, which include: the Mexican Grey wolf, Red wolves, Swift foxes, Maned wolves, and African Wild Dogs. We got to see all five (though I only got pictures of four). We started the tour in one of the bunkers (shown above) and walked a quarter mile out to the enclosures, past a few of the small buildings used for equipment and offices.

The enclosures all had double fences with space for a walkway between where we saw staff members transporting food and enrichment materials to enclosures. The Swift fox enclosure had a smaller mesh on the inner fence making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get pictures of the foxes and their three new kits. Here's a pic I found on the interwebs because they were the most adorable things and you all deserve to see them :)

Swift foxes (Vulpes velox) are native to the Central US and up into Canada and weigh 4-6 lbs (awwww!!!) Victims of habitat displacement and population fragmentation, they were eliminated from 90% of their natural range and since 2001 have been reintroduced into about 40% of their original range, much of it being on Indian Reservations.

We got to see both parents and the little pups peeking their heads out of the dens :) :)

Right next door was one of the smaller enclosures for the Mexican Grey wolves and as we approached so did a female, Anna, who promptly began rubbing up along the fence to establish and reinforce her territory. She was absolutely breathtaking. Anna is considered the matriarch of the EWC and has given birth to four litters of pups, totaling 41 offspring. Once again, the fence and her constant movement (and the millions of mosquitos) made photography difficult but enjoy :)

Spotted a larger male up on a hill who still had much of his winter coat

I could have stayed to watch her for hours but once again...the mosquitos! The EWC has also had success in captive breeding of the greys and recently announced the birth of six pups. Next up were the African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) which might just be my favorite of the canid species....maybe. There were four males and a single female who runs the show as she will choose who she eventually (hopefully) mates with. When she got up to walk to the other enclosure all the boys got up and followed her. Something all us females could get used to ;)

The African Wild Dog is native to Sub Saharan Africa with a population once estimated being around 500k, now there are no more than 3000 wild dog left in the wild. They are pretty fascinating animals which the staff at the EWC are still learning much about. Some fun things to know about them is that they are born completely black and as they get older they develop uniquely patterned coats. Being that they are from Africa, they have shorter and coarser coats than canids of North America and those big ears are used to help with heat dissipation. At the center their dens have heating to accomodate for Missouri's snowy winters.

African Wild Dog are also incredibly strong and have highly organized packs. Because food is a lot more scarce in their native environment they have to kill nearly every time they hunt and they do! About 75% of their hunts are successful compared to the Grey Wolf's 10% success rate. Wild Dogs also have extremely strong jaws, which further help with their hunting success. For a comparison, Great White Sharks chomp down with around 600 psi (we've all watched Shark Week, that's no joke!) but an African Wild Dogs can easily crush through bone at 2800 psi. Because they are potentially so dangerous, the staff has taught the dogs to stand on hindlegs against the fence to give physical exams without risking personnel.

 

I want one!!! :)

Next up were the Maned wolf (Chrysocyon brachyurus) of South America. Another displacement, misunderstood top predator facing the same risk to extinction. These guys also get the nice heated dens in the winter and will use that pretty black mane as a warning and have a sort of roar-bark, fitting with their foxish/lionish attributes. We saw two wolves casually hanging out in their enclosure. These canids are highly omnivorous (unlike the other EWC species) and are fed a lot of fruit as well as protein, this resulted in a very skunk-like odor when we approached their enclosures which is characteristic of their species.

Last but not least was the Red wolf (Canis lupus rufus) which was very sneaky and hid in its den the whole time. Thank goodness for awesome zoom. You can see him just chillin and staying out of the heat. Red wolves are native to the Eastern US and faced similar extinction as the grey wolf but their reintroduction has been much more successful as there is much more wolf education and far less agriculture on the east coast. They now number about 300 in the wild.

The docent, Sandy, was telling us about how important top predator species are to entire ecosystems. For example, scientists noticed a drop in sea turtles on the East Coast over decades and when the Red wolf population began to strengthen so did the sea turtles. How are these two species possibly connected? Well, during the decline of the Red wolf population, raccoon populations exploded and raccoons love turtle eggs. Without the wolves around to maintain the raccoon population, the sea turtles became threatened. Similar connections have been seen in Yellowstone with the reintroduction of wolves in the park and the rebounding of deer, beaver, and even tree population health.

There is so much controversy around wolf and coyote populations and their affect on agriculture and ranching but one thing no one can attest to is that they are necessary for a healthy ecosystem. We might not think our individual lives depend on the health of these wild animals but we are all connected, humans aren't in a seperate ecosystem but part of a whole.

This was such a wonderful experience and made me excited about getting back to school so I can one day join the amazing work being done to help conserve and rehabilitate these predator populations. There is so much to learn about these fascinating and beautiful animals and so much to teach our generation and the next about respect and appreciation for every creature.